At the Festival With

--Walkin' Cane Mark --

Photos By Ed and Bette Sharpe 
 Text By Walkin Cane Mark

No one really knows where Mark is from. Someone once said that Mark was born under a cactus deep in the Arizona desert. Others have been heard to state that an infant Cane came crawling out from the Superstition Mountains one day after the worst monsoon storm in Phoenix history. What we do know is that Mark is an Arizona native and still resides there today. A fifth generation musician he was born with the soul of a gila monster and the voice of a grizzly bear.  A much sought after and always entertaining personality Mark has recently gone from thrilling Southwestern audiences to shaking up the world! Recently returning from five tours of Europe, Mark has enjoyed what he obviously was put on earth for......Entertain.

Mark was dubbed his previous handle "Walkin Cane" by the great Willie Dixon in 1988 when he was recovering from a crippling car accident. "He saw me walking around with a cane and knew my name was Mark, one day out of his mouth came Walkin Cane Mark and it stuck."  Its only recently that Mark has changed over to just plane old Mark Cane.  "No body really new how to say the name Willie Dixon gave me anyhow" Mark laughed, they'd call me Cane Walkin mark or Walkin Mark Cane, so I just narrowed it down too...Mark Cane.

  
Mark jumps down off the stage in this photo and entertains 'Young
Blues Lovers'  with his Harp. The kids love his energy and antics!

Mark has the reputation of pure showmanship, he has been known to perform forward rolls & headstands all while blowing his harp. "It took years of rehabilitation, but now I can tear it up"., his stage entrances are legendary, one time in Stockholm as the band belted out a very funky version "Mojo", Cane came on with a frontal roll ending with a standing pose, and to a standing ovation.

   
Left Mark with his band   -   Right A great turnout at the  Glendale Jazz and Blues Festival

Born on August 26th 1967 Mark found his passion for Rhythm & Blues and Soul music early on.  "I found a copy of James Brown's Get In To It Get Involved (arts 1&2 (it seems that it isn't a real JB tune unless it has Part1 or 2 after it).  "You don't pick the blues the blues picks you" the late great harmonica player Junior Wells once told Mark and pick him it did!

A Boneifyed Soul Man Mark's greatest influence was they legendary Blue Eyed Soul Man Wayne Cochran.  "I was fronting a 10 piece Soul/Blues Band at the ripe old age of 20 years old.  It consisted of all older musicians that hired me because they said that my sound and style reminded them of Wayne Cochran.  Keep in mind that Wayne had quite music for the Lord in 1980 and I was no where old enough to have ever been exposed to him in his hey day.  Well, after a while of there comments I combed the record stores and got a hold of some of Wayne Cochran & The CC Rider's singles and fell in love with a tune he recorded as a B-side called No rest For The Wicked (the song mark is most identified with to this day).  I realized how far ahead of his time Wayne was and embraced any comparison they wanted to make !"

A few years went by and a fan left Mark a mysterious package in a plane brown paper bag, it was a recording Wayne Cochran had recently done changing the lyrics to his 60's hit "Harlem Shuffle" to "Bringing Heaven To Harlem" adding a religious twist to it.  "Soon after I was emailed by one of the CC Riders (Wayne Cochran's back up band) and asked if I would attend a reunion of the band and rehearse the band in preparation for a few songs to be performed with Wayne at his Church in Miami Florida, I replied with What took ya so long?!?!?!"  Mark went on to form a long lasting kinship with the band members and has jammed with them on many occasions.  "I had a true religious experience with pastor Wayne and to this day it is in tribute to him that I call my band The Disciples Of Soul !"

Junior Wells said it best, "Cane is the baddest muther I've ever seen, I'm glad he's coming up in music!" See for yourself why the Mark Cane & The Disciples Of Soul are the hottest act on the road today. 

With this guy you get your money's worth in the first 5 minutes.....The rest is free!

Photos by Ed and Bette Sharpe 

L-  Mark puts a young Blues singer in front of  the microphone!  - 
 R-  A Large row of video cameras were set up to capture the concert.

L-  Mark and the band from a distance -      R- Ed Sharpe Shooting 3-D Video of Mark performing

Photos by Ed and Bette Sharpe